Koden
Encyclopedia
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, on the Bug River
Bug River
The Bug River is a left tributary of the Narew river flows from central Ukraine to the west, passing along the Ukraine-Polish and Polish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it empties into the Narew river near Serock. The part between the lake and the Vistula River is sometimes referred to as...
which forms the border between Poland and Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. Administratively, it belongs to Biała Podlaska County in Lublin Voivodeship
Lublin Voivodeship
- Administrative division :Lublin Voivodeship is divided into 24 counties : 4 city counties and 20 land counties. These are further divided into 213 gminas....
. It is the seat of the gmina
Gmina
The gmina is the principal unit of administrative division of Poland at its lowest uniform level. It is often translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2010 there were 2,479 gminas throughout the country...
(administrative district) called Gmina Kodeń
Gmina Koden
Gmina Kodeń is a rural gmina in Biała Podlaska County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland, on the border with Belarus...
. It has about 1,900 inhabitants (2006). It lies approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi) south-east of Biała Podlaska and 102 km (63 mi) north-east of the regional capital Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
.
The first written mention comes from the 16th century, stating a settlement existed here already a century ago. This settlement was purchased by the voivode of Podlaskie Jan Sapieha, who fortified it and in 1511 established a town under Magdeburg law.
In the 17th century the fourth owner of Kodeń Mikołaj Sapieha brought to the town the wonder working icon portraying the Spanish statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, said to have been painted by Archbishop Saint Augustine of Canterbury at the request of Pope Saint Gregory the Great. According to the local legend, Mikołaj Sapieha stole this image from Pope Urban VIII in 1630, however afterwards the Pope lifted the excommunication and gave the icon along with many relics to the basilica in Kodeń in recognition of Sapiehas actions in defense of the Church. There are no documents confirming those events and most likely the icon was simply purchased during a pilgrimage to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The icon was crowned in 1723 by the bishop Stefan Rupniewski with crowns conferred by Pope Innocent XIII.
In the dire time of the Partition of Poland, Kodeń fell under Russian rule. In 1869 the town was stripped of its city rights and in 1875 the basilica was occupied by Russians and the icon had to be taken to Poland's greatest Marian shrine in Jasna Góra where it was relatively safe. In 1905 following a weakening of the tsarist regime the faithful could return to the basilica and after Poland regained independence in 1919 the parish was reestablished. In 1927 Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, 1782. The congregation was given recognition by Pope...
settled in Kodeń and restored the basilica to its former glory and the icon was returned after 52 years. In 1973 the church of St. Anne was granted the status of a minor basilica
Minor basilica
Minor basilica is a title given to some Roman Catholic churches. By canon law no Catholic church can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom....
by Pope Paul VI.
Other sites of interest in Kodeń aside from the basilica include: the 16th century gothic church of the Holy Ghost with elements of renaissance and baroque, originally Greek Catholic, but in the 1960s adopted as filial church
Filial church
A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin filialis, from filia, daughter....
of the Roman Catholic parish due to the lack of Eastern Rite faithful; the cemetery chapel of St. Laurentius; the Calvary of Kodeń; palace ruins.